Mysore to Chennai

We went to the UNESCO palace of Mysore. It was built about 100years ago. It costs 200rs for foreigners.. Not sure if its free for Indians, but I can't imagine the  opposite happening in Europe.  The palace is still half owned by the former royal family with the rest being taken over by the state.

We got a golf buggy to take us around the edge first for 100rs.. It would have taken ages otherwise and it was pretty hot.

I managed to lose the tickets, so I had to go and buy some more before going inside. They didn't allow photographs, but we sneaked quite a few anyway. A guard caught us and made Caroline delete all hers.. I was crafty and managed to keep mine.

There were camel rides available for 30rs and elephant rides for 100rs. Caroline and Henry went on the elephant and Me and Winston went on a camel. The driver was helpful with taking photos. Henry's elephant kept getting stopped by people wanting to take pictures of him... So they took a long time to get round the short route.

We only had waiting list tickets for the overnight train to Chennai. At 5pm we found out that we were not going to be on the train... So having got used to a bit of luxury at the Regaalis hotel, we decided to stay at the Radisson. Bargain for £54. Same as a Travelodge in UK... But you get breakfast.

The next morning we spent in the pool, and then went to the train at about 3pm. As there were no spaces available for Chennai, we decided to see Bangalore instead. We were in an AC sleeper compartment with 3 births high. It was empty apart from us and Winston and Henry liked climbing on the top bunk.

There was no one going along the train selling stuff and we had hardly any water. I jumped off the train and quickly bought some water and had to jump back on the moving train.... How fucking heroic.

At Bangalore we hired a porter to carry our bags over the bridge over the tracks for about £2. He huffed and puffed a lot. They are not that heavy and he didn't bother to use the wheels for some reason. Some taxi driver was trying to scam us and a helpful lady pointed us in the direction of an honest firm They took us to our hotel.

We moved rooms because we needed a sofa. Decent hotel for about £30. In the morning Winston puked up at breakfast.. He thought it was going to be a burp. They took about 30 mins to clear it up. Went swimming in the little shady pool and tried to go to a 5 star hotel for a posh Italian lunch, but the restaurant was closed.. So we went to another pasta place which was nice and had super fast service.  We got to the train station with minutes to spare although I had to carry all the bags over the stairs over the tracks. They are not as heavy as they were because we lose stuff here and there.

We had left the kids swimming stuff in the Radisson.

We took the double decker train to Katpadi, and from there a rickshaw to Vellore. We stayed in SMS hotel. Very good value, I would recommend it.

The highlight of Vellore is a golden temple. It is only 7 years old, and the roof has 5 tons of gold leaf.  The story is that some bloke was praying near an anthill and people thought it was cool so they started to hang out there too. Then they started giving each other food, and donations and before you know it he had enough money to build a hospital and a temple. The guy in charge was doing the anthill thing as a teenager and now he's 37. Now the temple acts as a big draw for donations which can be used to run the hospital.  I'm in 2 minds about this. At least people are funding the hospital without threats of violence like in a state funded system, but they are being lied to and manipulated with impossible promises of healing or a better life in order to get them to donate.

We had an argue on the way in about being asked to put our valuables in their storage. We got our entrance money back, but couldn't be the money back for the clothes they had made us buy so we could be decent enough to go in. We persevered and eventually got a private tour for free and we could take our belongings with us.

We took a taxi to Chennai for 3400rs.

Our hammock suppliers had arranged a serviced apartment for us. We had a few moans. The water stank of sewage. There were no laundry facilities, the pool was green and unusable and they wouldn't let us use the kitchen to cook for ourselves.

Bhatt and Vishal came to collect us in the morning and took us to Bhatts hammock factory. We had a good look around. The factory was very busy with people weaving hammocks and piles of stock and supplies everywhere. The unskilled get about $7per day. The stitchers get about $14.

We went to look at their 2 other sites. One was primarily used for making our hammocks and was staffed solely by women. It was similar to the Pashmina factory.  The other was where they make the hammock stands. We were given a full tour. The road had been dug up by locals who were trying some extortion on all  the factory owners who use that road. I'm pretty sure they will end up just driving away the jobs.

We had a great Chinese meal with Vishal at a restaurant called Mainland China in Chennai. Then we changed accommodation for a place called Somerset. 5 star service apartments. It costs £70  per night including tax, but you have a little flat with a bedroom lounge, washing machine, kitchen., and someone comes and tidies and does the washing up for you every day. There is a pool on the roof and buffet breakfast is included.